As we bid adieu to our talented March You Oughta Know artist Graffiti6, it’s time to give a great big welcome to K’Naan, the latest member of the YOK Family!

K’Naan is a 34 year-old, Somalian-born hip hop artist, one that currently calls Canada home. He was raised in the war-torn town of Mogadishu, but at the age of 13, he and his family were able to make their way to North America, first arriving in New York City before settling down in Toronto. K’Naan released a few albums in the latter half of the Aughts to critical acclaim, but it wasn’t until his anthemic 2009 song “Wavin’ Flag” (which was produced by a then-unknown Bruno Mars) was selected to appear in a Coca-Cola advertisement in 2010 that he really began getting noticed. This just wasn’t any ordinary commercial, either; Coca-Cola selected his song to be the company’s promotional anthem for the 2010 World Cup, which exposed K’Naan’s particularly soulful blend of hip hop to an international audience that numbered in the hundreds of millions.

Understanding that he had a golden opportunity to take his career to the next level, K’Naan took the next few years to work on his follow-up to Troubador, the 2009 album that “Wavin’ Flag” first appeared on. In January, he released his 5-song More Beautiful Than Silence EP, which is a pre-cursor to May 1 release of his full-length God, Country Or The Girl. His EP contains the single “Is Anybody Out There?”, which is steadily climbing the Billboard charts, thanks in no small part to its hook being sung by his fellow Canadian, Nelly Furtado. He performed the single sans Furtado a few weeks ago at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge as part of his You Oughta Know Live set, a video that we have for you above. (In the video above, aMina accompanies K’Naan in place of Furtado.)

The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame is set to induct heavyweight acts like Guns N’ Roses, the Beastie Boys, and Red Hot Chili Peppers on April 14, but there’s one open question that’s overshadowing the whole affair: Will Axl Rosebury twenty-plus years of beef and reunite with Slash, Duff, Steven Adler, Izzy Stradlin and the rest of the original lineup of GNR for a one-night only performance? As much as we’d like to report otherwise, we would strongly advise you against holding your breath.

When Axl turned up on That Metal Show last year, he was diplomatic about the prospects of the reunion, intimating that he had recently broken bread with Izzy and Duff. Then last month, former GNR drummer Matt Sorumdidn’t slam the door on reunion rumors, but also confessed that “I’m not the guy to ask, I just hope it works out.” However, in an interview with Rolling Stone that was just published, Slash all but crushed GNR fans’ hopes for a reunion.

“This is a subject I’m dead sick of talking about,” he told RS. “Everyone has been asking me what’s going to happen, and they know as much as I do. I feel you’re totally obligated to be present and I would love to f***ing play, but it’s just something that’s not gonna happen for whatever reason.” When pressed for further explanation, he added “[Axl] hates my guts. It’s over a lot of different stuff; I don’t even know. There’s just no communication between us. I talk to Duff and Steven, but when it comes to old Guns N’ Roses, there really isn’t anybody that makes decisions [besides Axl].”

We really wish this was a late April Fool’s Day joke, but sadly, it appears as if this is one reunion that’s never going to happen.

Unless you have a couple of children running around your household, we’re betting there’s a very good chance that you missed the Kids Choice Awards that aired on Nickelodeon on Saturday night. We’ve got all of the coverage of who got slimed (hint: The Biebs!) over at our sister site TheFABLife, but we’re here to focus on the musicians that strutted their stuff for the kid set.

Madonna‘s MDNA is set to take the top spot on Billboard next week by selling an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 copies. This will be her fifth consecutive album to debut at No. 1 and her eighth overall. According to Billboard, MDNA‘s sales have been bolstered by a promotion tied to her world tour — fans who buy concert tickets in the U.S. may also buy the album as part of their purchase. But we wonder whether controversies tied to MDNA — albeit, relatively small on the Madonna Controversy Scale — have helped with the sales spike.

If anything is in Madonna’s “DNA” (the stated inspiration for her album title), it’s stoking controversy and using the press as a marketing machine. This time around, the pop provocateur had her “Girls Gone Wild” video, featuring shirtless men grinding in mantyhose, age restricted by YouTube for nudity and implied masturbation.

WE’RE BACK! Season 10 of That Metal Show premieres THIS Saturday and we are bringing you nothing but the best of all things hard rock and heavy metal.

We have so much to look forward this season, including appearances from the likes of Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), The Cult, Warrant, Michael Schenker (Eddie nearly passed out during this interview), and so many more. We also have some surprise guests helping the guys figure out their Top 5 AND you will never guess the rockstars that stop by to try to Stump The Trunk!!

We are kicking off season 10 the only way we know how; by bringing you THE Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Robb Flynn (Machine Head) and of course, the one and only Mike Portnoy. Lars and Robb share stories from the road and the hosts get a lesson in “skull biting.” Just trust us when we say, you do NOT want to miss this!

Season 10 of That Metal Show premieres tomorrow night, Saturday, March 31, at 11pm ET/10 CT, only on VH1 Classic. Read more…

Melanie Fiona, who is currently supporting her new album The MF LIFE, recently visited VH1 and performed her latest single “4AM,” a track that questions the whereabouts of her boyfriend.

While she was singing, other early morning/late night songs came to mind.

Taking a cue from Melanie, here is a soundtrack for the night—where monogamous relationships go to die and booty calls blossom:

12:00AM
“Midnight City,” M83
Apparently M83 likes to party deep into the night, because at midnight, a time when many of us are sleeping, he’s still waiting: in a car, for the right time, for a roar, and a ride in the dark.

1:15AM
“Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum
The alcohol buzz and drunken dialing commence as Lady Antebellum harmonize over the following chorus: “It’s a quarter after one, I’m a little drunk, and I need you now.”

With American Idol and The Voice running concurrently, we’re finding it increasingly difficult to find enough hours in the week to watch both programs. However, when we heard that Nicki Minaj was going to be performing* on American Idol last night, we made sure to flip the dial to catch her first live TV appearance since the controversial “Exorcism Of Roman” number on the Grammys.

Well, nobody got exorcised last night, but it did appear to us like Idol judge J. Lo was throwing some shade in Minaj’s general direction after Nicki suggested that she’d like to join the judging panel. [pic via Mr. Worldwide]

TO HELL WITH WINE, SOMEBODY GIVE THE BOSS A BEER!
Proving for the bazillionth time that he is a true man of the people, Bruce Springsteen downed a cup of beer that a fan handed him during a concert in Philadelphia last night. True Springsteen disciples will recognize that this very moment was prophesized nearly 30 years ago in his song “Sherry Darling,” when he sang “Well I got some beer and the highway’s free / And I got you, and baby you’ve got me.” [Spinner]

RARE FOOTAGE OF NINE INCH NAILS PERFORMING ON DANCE PARTY U.S.A. SURFACESSkrillex, you have some explaining to do! It seems that Trent Reznor had your haircut 20 years before you did. [Gawker]

Katy Perry’s video for “Part Of Me” is a stark departure from the candy-coated fluff of “California Gurls” and the Eighties-tastic silliness of “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” There are no scenes of whipped cream or fireworks or ANYTHING shooting out of her boobs; instead, a break-up leads our heroine to enroll for active duty as a Marine, and she spends the rest of the video training for battle. The last shot of the video is a semi-harrowing one, as Katy peers directly into the camera with what seems to be a thousand-yard stare, generally associated with people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders.

Now, Katy is taking some guff from people who feel like her video was done in poor taste. Feminist author/theorist Naomi Wolf (pictured above, lower right) took Perry to task on her Facebook page for creating what she feels like is little more than a 4-minute recruitment video. “Have you all seen the Katy Perry Marines video?” Wolf wrote. “It is a total piece of propaganda for the Marines … I really want to find out if she was paid by them for making it … I would suggest a boycott of this singer whom I really liked — if you are as offended at this glorification of violence as I am.”

F****d Up lead singer Damian Abraham (pictured above, lower left) then decided to pile on using Twitter, writing that “Seeing Katy Perry as a soldier in ‘Part Of Me’ really makes me think that we need to start a war so she can go die,” which he followed up with “Yes I’m aware my last tweet was kinda dumb but so is glamorizing war to sell records to idiots. Katy Perry Still Sucks.”

Everyone knows that the years 2000-2010 were not very good for the music industry. Thanks to a perfect storm of rapid technological shifts, widespread piracy, consumer apathy, and executive ineptitude, the industry suffered through a slump that nearly killed off the entire business model. That is, until Adele came along!

We’re being slightly facetious, but Adele is credited by many as having (temporarily) saved the music business. Her landmark album, 21, just sold its 8 millionth copy here in the United States, making it the 4th most successful album to be released on these shores in the last 10 years. Care to venture any guesses as to the two artists who have sold more copies of their respective albums than her? If you find yourself either stumped or looking for validation, we’ve got the Top 10 Selling Albums of the Last 10 Years for you below.